19.10.1995

Stand by the miners!

From ‘The Communist’, paper of the Communist Party of Great Britain, October 21 1920

THE MINERS’ ballot has been taken ... and today the entire British coalfield is at a standstill ... the situation now depends on the rank and file of the Triple Alliance ... Despite the repeated declarations of sympathy and support which have come from the various leaders of both the railwaymen and the transport workers, one can only assume from the experience of the past that ... these leaders will fight shy of their responsibilities.

... Arrayed against the force of the miners is the massed strength and resources of all the forces of government ... The Coldstream Guards have been moved in preparation, and no doubt the secret instructions which were issued to the military commands recently, and the application of which to strikes was so strongly denied, will now be put into operation.

... The Communist Party takes its stand beside the miners, sharing its responsibility in waging the struggle against capitalism, conscious of the fact that sooner or later that struggle must centre round the final effort of the working class ... in a revolution for their freedom and emancipation from wage slavery.